Poor Thanksgiving.
Overlooked.
Demoted.
Underappreciated.
As I drive around town and shop in the stores, I’m surrounded by Christmas decorations. There’s red and green garland, ornaments and elves on the shelves in every store.
Know what I see on the clearance aisle? Thanksgiving decorations.
Thanksgiving used to be one of the bigger holidays of the year. Commercials advertised a piping hot turkey resting on a big platter. Moms were filling bowls with mashed potatoes and gravy. An orange tablecloth covered the table, and marshmallow ambrosia was on the table for everyone to have seconds.
Growing up, our mom made sure we had all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes – turkey, bread dressing, salad, mashed potatoes, rice, gravy and rolls. Her favorite dessert was pumpkin pie, and it’s the only time of the year she made it.
We’d watch a football game in the afternoon, fall asleep on the couch, and then go back for seconds a few hours later. Thanksgiving was a day when we gave thanks, ate ourselves into oblivion and vowed we wouldn’t eat turkey again for six weeks.
All that has ended.
I’m not sure if it’s a rebound from covid or the sad state of the economy, but people are Christmas crazy. I was in an arts and crafts store, and people were lined up at the cash register, their carts filled with Christmas decorations.
One shopper was pushing a cart with a stuffed gingerbread man that hung off the sides because it was so big. People were buying artificial Christmas trees so fast, the loudspeaker crackled with “John, report to the front for a tree take out” every two minutes.
Stores no longer wait until the day after Thanksgiving to start promoting Christmas and holiday shopping. They started this frenzy right after the back-to-school supplies were pulled from the shelves.
That’s not an exaggeration.
But I feel for Thanksgiving.
The day was once a big deal, a time moms spent weeks getting ready for. There was the shopping for a big frozen turkey, knowing how many days it would take to thaw out the bird in time to pop it in the oven at 6 a.m. so families could sit down at noon.
There was chopping – onions and celery – and making sure there was nutmeg and cinnamon in the pantry for the pies.
Even though I’m not a good cook, I enjoy cooking on Thanksgiving. I buy a big turkey as soon as I see them because the bigger birds are the first to go.
After the turkey has been procured, it’s time to shop for everything else. My grocery store list for Thanksgiving has at least 20 items on it.
There’s the 10-pound bag of potatoes because I like to make mashed potatoes from scratch. Then there’s the dried cornbread dressing mix. My son prefers baked cornbread which I might actually attempt this year.
The Wednesday before, I bake an apple pie, cherry pie and a pecan pie. Sometimes I’ll bake brownies, but that’s only if I have time. I usually forget to buy a can of cranberry sauce, so that’s a run-to-the-store Wednesday night.
We use the good china and we give thanks before we sit down to eat. We are blessed and fortunate to have so many incredibly good things and people to be grateful for. It’s the one day centering around remembering the gifts we’ve been given.
That’s why my Thanksgiving decorations won’t come down until the turkey’s stored in the fridge and all the pie is gone.
I want the last Thursday of November to know – I respect you.
It’s a fabulous and, in my heart, much appreciated holiday – Thanksgiving.
This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.